“You got it,” he responds.
“Maksim, see if we can send a little message to Callaghan and get him to show his face tomorrow night. I want thismudakdealt with once and for all,” I say.
“Oh this is going to be fun,” Grigory chimes in. For a lawyer, he has a twisted sense of dark humor.
“Grigory, Mikhail, I want you two to stick with me for now. When shit goes down, I need the two of you to take care of Emma and Lidiya,” I say to them. As far as I’m concerned, taking care of my wife and my sister is the most important task in this plan. They both nod in agreement.
I send a quick message to Emma and Lidiya, asking them to come to the office. They arrive a couple of minutes later and take a seat on the couch.
“What’s going on?” Lidiya asks. She’s more used to these kinds of situations than Emma is.
“The two of you are both confined to the living room or your bedrooms until further notice,” I tell them. I give Emma a look that hopefully conveys my concern and love at the same time.
“Why?” Emma asks softly.
“Because this situation isn’t over yet, and I need to know you’re safe and secure,” I tell Emma, kneeling beside the couch and taking her hands in mine. “My wife and my sister will be protected at all costs.”
“Your wife?” Emma looks at me as confusion crosses her face. “Ivan, I’m not your wife.”
“We’ll fix that when this is over,lyubimaya,” I tell her, taking her face in my hands and kissing her. “My brothers and sister already consider you family.”
“It’s about fucking time,” Lidiya says loudly. She starts clapping, and my brothers and Mikhail soon join her.
“Before we do that, we need to eliminate Callaghan and his organization,” I say, standing up and moving back to my desk. Everyone else nods in agreement.
“Emma, let’s leave the boys to play their war games,” Lidiya says, taking Emma by the hand. “We’ll get some snacks and watch some trashy TV in the living room.”
“Sounds good,” Emma replies as she follows Lydia out of the office.
Emma seems overwhelmed, and I wonder how much of my life she’s already accepted and how much of it is the effect of the shock she’s been through the last few days.
For the rest of the day, I don’t get to spend more than twenty minutes together at a time with Emma. Between reports of Callaghan’s, Popov’s movements, and making sure security is air-tight around the estate, I’m a busy man. There were several times when I had a moment to spare and walked into the living room to see Emma asleep on the couch, so I just went back to work.
When it was time for Emma to get to bed, I carried her up the stairs to our room. We settled under the covers together and watched a show on TV. I think we were both too tired for any other kind of activity that didn’t involve snuggling or sleep.
Just a little after midnight, I’m awakened by a popping sound. Emma is sound asleep beside me, so I quietly slip from the bed and cautiously approach the window. I hear more popping sounds, but I look out the window, I don’t see any movement. Then I notice lights flashing near the tree line on the far side of the lawn. Our expected guests are early.
“Shit,” I say before rushing to the dresser to find my pistol and grabbing my phone. I furiously dial Dmitri’s number.
“What’s wrong, Ivan?” Dmitri asks. He’s still awake and talking to Lidiya downstairs in the living room.
“They’re here. Make sure everyone is in place,” I tell him before hanging up the phone.
I need to get Emma to safety inside the house so I can take care of the approaching threat.
“Emma, I need you to wake up,” I tell her. I’m not gentle about shaking her shoulder this time.
“It’s too early,” she complains without opening her eyes.
“Lyubimaya,wake up now!” I raise my voice to get my point across. Emma opens her eyes and looks fearful. I grab her robe so she is covered because I’m going to have to take her downstairs with me where others can see her.
“What’s happening, Ivan?” Emma asks nervously.
“Men are approaching the house. They weren’t supposed to be here until tomorrow. I need to get you and Lidiya to safety,” I say, trying to give her as much information as I can without saying everything I’m thinking.
I grab Emma’s arm to guide her downstairs. Lidiya joins us in the hallway along with my brothers and Mikhail. Gunshots are growing closer and louder outside.
“How the fuck are thosemudaksso close to the house? Where the fuck is all the security?” I yell.
